Researchers from the Center for Functionally Integrative Neuroscience at Aarhus University in Denmark explored changes occurring in the brain from the long-term practice of meditation.  It has already been established that the practice of sustained attention results in increased cortical thickness.  In this investigation, evidence was found of structural differences in the lower brainstem. Magnetic resonance imaging revealed higher gray matter density in the lower brain stem regions concerned with cardiorespiratory control in experienced meditators, as compared with age-matched non-meditators. This could account for some of the cardio-respiratory, parasympathetic effects and traits reported in several studies of various meditation practices, as well as the cognitive, emotional, and immunoreactive impacts reported in these studies. 

Imagery Rehearsal Found Critical in Motor Rehab for Stroke, Better than Physical Practice Alone

Researchers from the University of Lyon in Bron Cedex, France tested whether "mental rehearsal" (motor imagery) is equivalent to physical learning in restoring motor function in hemiplegic patients (paralyzed on one side), and examined what would be optimal proportions of real execution vs. rehearsal.

Subjects were asked to grasp an object and insert it into an adapted slot. One group (G0) practiced the task only by physical execution (240 trials); three groups imagined performing the task in different rates of trials (25%, G25; 50%, G50; 75%, G75), and physically executed movements for the remaining trials; a fourth, control group imagined a visual rotation task in 75% of the trials and then performed the same motor task as the other groups.

In Neurological Rehab, Imagining Movement Delivers the Goods

A Dutch literature review concludes that imagining movement creates the same flow of sensory information that leads to the reacquisition of motor skills.

In rehab, active exercising creates the flow of sensory information responsible for the learning or relearning of lost (or newly needed) motor skills. This review article addresses whether active physical exercise is always necessary for creating this sensory flow.

It points to numerous studies indicating that motor imagery can result in the same plastic changes in the motor system that actual physical practice provides. Motor imagery is the mental execution of a movement without any overt, corresponding movement or without any peripheral (muscle) activation.

 

Guided Motor Imagery Helps with Athletic Performance, Neurological Conditions

Investigators at the University of Haifa in Israel reviewed the literature to determine the positive effects of guided motor imagery practice on motor performance. There is abundant evidence that motor performance is improved in athletes, people who are healthy, and people with neurological conditions, such as stroke, spinal cord injury and Parkinson’s disease. This article discusses how to integrate motor imagery into a physical therapy practice and goes into particulars of visual and kinesthetic motor imagery, factors that modify motor imagery practice, the design of motor imagery protocols, and potential applications of motor imagery.

Citation: Dickstein R, Deutsch JE. Motor imagery in physical therapist practice. Physical Therapy. 2007 Jul; 87 (7): pages 942-53. Epub 2007 May 1 This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it

An MRI study out of Japan reveals more inner workings of the brain during imagery, and connections between alexithymia (inablity to translate emotions into words) and imagining past and future events.

Researchers from the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at Hiroshima University in Japan used MRI’s to investigate differences in brain function between people with high degrees of alexithymia (an inability to put emotions into words, commonly found in people with PTSD) and those with low degrees.

A new study shows that a brief mindfulness meditation training program produces significant increases in left-sided, anterior activation in the brain and increases in antibody titers to influenza vaccine.

Researchers performed a randomized, controlled study to discover the effects of an 8-week training program of mindfulness meditation on brain and immune function with healthy employees in a work environment.

Researchers from the Department of Radiology, Brigham and Women''s Hospital/ Harvard Medical School, used MRI technology to see which neural pathways were involved when subjects imagined tactile stimulation on the dorsal side of their right hand. Results were then compared to the MRI findings from subjects who actually received tactile stimulation of the same area of the hand.